Russia’s track and field governing body has outlined what it says has been a refusal of World Athletics to fairly consider the reinstatement of its athletes in the wake of a widespread that continued since 2022.
In a report from Russian state media on Friday, the All-Russian Athletics Federation executive director Boris Yaryshevsky pointed his criticism at what he believes is a lack of initiative from the world track and field governing body that would ease sanctions dating back to 2022.
“The All-Russian Athletics Federation is very actively working to build a dialogue,” Yaryshevsky said. Clearly, this is our most important and key priority—the return of our athletes to the international arena. We’ve been building a dialogue and holding negotiations since 2025.”
Russia has faced sweeping bans by World Athletics since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which also included Belarus. World Athletics’ own council has discussed lifting the sanctions several times and in early July opted to keep the existing penalties in place.
Yaryshevsky claims that his nation’s athletes should not be subject to political discord that does not involve global competition and that matters regarding military action in Ukraine have no place in any sport.
“Unfortunately, we were forced to acknowledge that our dialogue hasn’t been constructive,” Yaryshevsky said. “And the statements World Athletics is making about our athletes’ reinstatement being directly linked to a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, which would be acceptable to the entire international community, are, in our view, completely discriminatory and have nothing to do with sport. Naturally, they don’t comply with the Olympic Charter.”
The International Olympic Committee is one of many organizations that also installed similar sanctions, but has begun outlining a path for Russia and Belarus to be reinstated in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
In May the IOC, called to end restrictions on Belarus and moved to lift Russia’s ban in early July.
Other governing bodies like World Gymnastics, World Aquatics and the International Cycling Union have already signaled for Belarus and Russia to return to competition but World Athletics, the first sport organization to enact the bans, remains unmoved.
Yaryshevsky said Russia believed that the IOC loosening its stance on the sanction was a sign that the country’s track and field athletes would eventually have their standing restores. And while he did not mention World Athletics president Sebastian Coe by name on Friday, his comments were directed at Coe, who said early in the month that keeping the ban was a move to “protect the integrity and fairness” of competitions.
“Starting in December, when the International Olympic Committee first recommended our athletes’ participation, we intensified this dialogue,” Yaryshevsky said. “Unfortunately, given that the head of World Athletics tried to avoid a decision on this issue, it dragged on. We repeatedly tried to bring this dialogue onto the international agenda. Ultimately, the World Athletics Council reviewed the matter and made a negative decision regarding the eligibility of Russian athletes.”
Russia has since appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for guidance on the matter and petition was submitted in early July.
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based court is regarded as the highest judicial authority for resolving sports-related disputes internationally and routinely hears cases on doping, sanctions, contract disputes and appeals.
“Experienced international lawyers specializing in sports law, including within the Court of Arbitration for Sport, have been involved in representing RusAF during the arbitration process,” The RusAF said in a statement announcing the appeal. “The lawsuit was filed within the five-day period stipulated by the Constitution of World Athletics and it meets all procedural requirements.”
